A commercially available disposable diaper is comprised of a top sheet, a back sheet and an absorbent body disposed in a region that covers the crotch area of a wearer when he or she wears the diaper, and generally has a hourglass shape, i.e., a rectangular shape with a recess at a central portion of the longitudinal sides thereof. The recess corresponds to the crotch area of a wearer, and a wider portion extending from the recess of the crotch area comprises the dorsal section, while the opposite portion comprises the ventral section. A fixing tape is provided at a lateral edge of a wing piece extending from both sides of the dorsal section.
When using such a disposable diaper, the diaper is fitted onto a wearer in an ordinary manner and the fixing tape at the lateral edge of the wing piece of the dorsal section is attached to a wearer by fixing around the waist, which is at the opposite side of the disposable diaper. Among various types of the fixing tape, one with a hook member is more preferable because of the advantage that the fixing tape can be repeatedly joined and released.
The fixing tape is disposed so as to protrude outwardly from the lateral edge of the wing pieces of the disposable diaper, as described in the Japanese Patent Publication No. 2002-45214.
In a manufacturing process of the disposable diaper provided with fixing tape so as to extend outwardly at the lateral edge of each wing niece of the diaper main body, the disposable diaper proceeds with the assembling and folding steps, etc., while continuously moving along a manufacturing line. In this case, since the fixing tape is provided so as to protrude outwardly, the fixing tape may be caught in a machine or hooked with another part of the diaper, thereby interrupting the smooth flow of production. Further, an entire diaper may even get caught in a machine.
A remedy for preventing such a failure is to fold back the fixing tape toward a wing piece, for temporary fixation to a bulky nonwoven fabric at a surface of the diaper with the hook member of the fixing tape. Accordingly, since the fixing tape is no longer protruding outwardly from the lateral edge of the wing piece, the fixing tape can be prevented from getting caught in the machine or causing a similar failure.
However, in a case where the wing piece of the disposable diaper is comprised of an elastic side flap, the nonwoven fabric at the surface becomes bulkier because of the elasticity of the side flap. Therefore, when the fixing tape is temporarily fixed by the hook member, the hook member is tightly engaged with the bulky nonwoven fabric. As a result, it becomes difficult to separate the fixing tape temporarily fixed to the side flap surface when fitting the diaper onto a wearer, and the side flap surface is prone to damage.
Another solution is to apply an adhesive for temporary fixing to an area close to the hook member, and to temporarily fix the fixing tape with the adhesive for temporary fixing by folding back the fixing tape such that the hook member is disposed inside. However, such remedy requires an additional process of applying the adhesive for temporary fixing in advance prior to performing the temporary fixing, and resultantly the manufacturing process becomes more complicated. Moreover, the manufacturing cost is undesirably increased.